Happy countryman and pained millionaire

快乐的乡下人和痛苦的百万富翁

Happy countryman and pained millionaire

 

麦迪·萨维奇

 

杰登的研究表明，生活贫困的人已经习惯了寻找各种方式来提升生活满意度和幸福感，而不再局限于金钱和物欲。例如，他们更有可能花时间跟家人相处，或者参加社区志愿活动。

Jayden's research shows that people living in poverty have become accustomed to finding ways to improve life satisfaction and well-being, and are no longer limited to money and material desires. For example, they are more likely to spend time with their family or participate in community volunteer activities.

 

"与幸福感密切相关的是一个国家或社会的社会资本发达程度，以及人们与周围其他人相互联系的紧密程度。"她解释道。

"Closely related to well-being is the degree of social capital development in a country or a society, and how closely people and other people around them are connected," she explained.

 

"在发展中国家，虽然用不了多少钱就可以对一个人的生活方式产生巨大影响——帮助他们超脱最基本的需求——但没有多少钱的人也不会因为可能失去什么东西而太过担心。"她补充道。

"In developing countries, although not much money can have a huge impact on a person's lifestyle - to help them get rid of the most basic needs - but people who don’t have much money are not too worried about what they might lose." she added.

 

"自由和民主使人快乐，但当这些东西不太普遍时，重要性就会降低。人们可以在灾祸中保持天然的快乐状态，但也可能在什么都不缺的情况下感觉痛苦。"

"Freedom and democracy make people happy, but when these things are less common, the importance will be reduced. People can maintain natural happiness in disasters, but they may also feel pain in the absence of anything." 

 

当然，这并不意味着应该就此认定越贫困越幸福（在联合国最新的《世界幸福指数报告》（World Happiness Report）中，富裕国家仍然占据主导）。但格雷厄姆的研究表明，较为富裕的人或许比他们想象得更能适应收入的负面变化。正如杰登所说，富人会经常设想更为理想的生活方式，他们可以通过"跟他人相处"学到很多东西，而这种相处方式在较为贫穷的社区和社会中更为普遍。

Of course, this does not mean that the poor should be considered happier. (In the latest UN World Happiness Report, rich countries still dominate.) But Graham's research shows that more affluent people may be more able to adapt to negative changes in income than they think. As Jaden said, the rich will often imagine a more ideal lifestyle. They can learn a lot by “getting in with others”, and this way of getting along is more common in poorer communities and societies.